Karen Morales said she and her friends "waited and waited" for one of their closest friends, Julia Quintana, to arrive at Morales' 16th birthday party on Saturday night.

Thursday

Dec 18, 2008 at 12:01 AMDec 18, 2008 at 5:00 PM

Shajia Ahmad - The Garden City Telegram - sahmad@gctelegram.com

"I know she was coming," said Morales, a classmate and close friend. "She called me at 4:16 (p.m.) and told me she was going to run some errands before coming."

An hour and a half into the small gathering, Morales said, they began to worry. Where was Julia? They called and sent text messages on their cell phones, they said, but there was no answer.

The 16-year-old Deerfield teenager never showed up to the party.

Quintana's body was found in a Garden City trash bin on Tuesday morning in the west alley behind 1009 N. Fourth St. Police say they were acting on a tip.

Officials are investigating the case as a homicide but will not release the cause of Quintana's death until an autopsy report is completed in Wichita.

Garden City police Capt. Mike Utz said law enforcement officials are working on several leads but have made no arrests. He said he could not comment on any possible suspects.

"We're still trying to put together a timeline of events," Utz said. "We're encouraging any of her friends or people who knew her to tell us if they called or texted her so we have a more definitive timeline on when she was last seen. We only have preliminary information at this time."

Morales and a mutual friend, Katie Freburg, 15, said they left the party to go looking for their friend. When they couldn't find Quintana, they called her mother, Monica Espinoza, who joined them in the search.

Quintana's family filed a missing-persons report with the Kearny County Sheriff's Office on Sunday and later the same day with the Garden City Police Department. The GCPD said it followed up on leads Sunday after several interviews with friends and checked several possible locations for the missing girl.

Friends and family posted fliers around Garden City businesses on Sunday and Monday.

"Even if you barely met her, she'd already have you laughing in five minutes," said Morales, who became friends with Quintana at the New Outlook Academy, 1404 Jones Ave., where they were both sophomores. "She was really bubbly, silly, crazy and funny."

Freburg, 15, a Deerfield High School student, said Quintana, her friend of four years, was "very strong-hearted."

"Julia was the type of person who just comes up and forgives you; she really believed in God," said Freburg, who had been friends with the teenage girl since she was 11 and Quintana was 12, she said.

Both friends said Quintana was like any normal teenage girl - the friends would go shopping together, hang out with friends and talk about boys. They were impressed that Quintana could cut and dye her own hair.

"Oh, my God, she was obsessed with her hair," said Morales in between tears. "She dyed her hair so much it was about ready to fall out."

Friends said Quintana liked cross country, track, boxing and wrestling, and the 16-year-old was a member of the Garden City High School wrestling team.

Freburg said she and Quintana began going to a local church youth group at the Bible Christian Church, 1404 E. Mary St., in recent months.

Kent Wagner, the youth group director for about six years, said he had several interactions with Quintana.

"Julia seemed to come from a rough life, and she was trying to figure out how God fit into it," said Wagner. Quintana's white Pontiac Aztec was found abandoned in the 300 block of Sixth Street near Finnup Park on Sunday. Police have said they will not comment on the vehicle's connection with the case or specific evidence.

Officials from the Kearny County Sheriff's Office, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Kansas Highway Patrol and the Finney County Attorney's Office are assisting the GCPD with the case.

This is the first homicide investigation this year in Garden City. Anyone with information should contact the GCPD at (620) 276-1300.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.